1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that can be installed with a plurality of applications and share a user credential among the applications, a control method for the information processing apparatus, and a program.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) which is connectable to a network can be additionally installed with a login application to authenticate a user and an embedded application. An example of an application executable on the image forming apparatus includes an application for transmitting a document read by a scanner to an external server via a network, and an application for connecting with an external server via a network to acquire external resources. Vendors other than that which provides the hardware of a device can create and sell applications.
If, every time the user accesses an external resource, he/she has to perform an authentication operation in such an image forming apparatus, this can place a heavy load on the user. Therefore, a single sign-on technique is known where the user only needs to perform an authentication operation once. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-263417 has proposed a technique for sharing the user credential of a computer and a user credential for accessing external systems among network providers in the overall network system.
The conventional technique, however, has the following problems. That is, an image forming apparatus without any network provider which enables to share a user credential as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-263417 cannot share a user credential among applications. Furthermore, if sharing a user credential among applications is allowed without any conditions, applications other than that which has registered the user credential may leak it outside. A vendor which creates an application, therefore, wants to share a user credential with only applications created by the vendor itself or trusted vendors. With a conventional user credential sharing method, however, a vendor which creates an application cannot limit applications with which a user credential is shared.